4.15.2014

Maokong gondola + tea plantations

Maokong is known for three things: tea plantations, great views of Taipei, and the gondola you ride to get there. our views of Taipei were obscured by haze and tinted gondola glass, but it was still lovely to get out of the city and wander through the hills in the fresh air.

the gondolas and the station have been taken over by Hello Kitty. who doesn't love Hello Kitty?

Saturday was warm and the lines were long, but worth the trip I think. we were crammed into a gondola with four strangers, and up we went through the mountains...

I'm hoping the next time I go to Maokong it will be clear. if you look closely you can spot Taipei 101 through the haze. that large building on the near hill is some kind of temple/monestary which you can also get off at the second gondola stop and explore.

we got off at the top station and took a right. there were signs for a temple, so we wound our way around a road to find it. there were plenty of tea houses offering drinks and snacks along the way, though I think some of the more famous ones are to the left of the station. each sign we found pointing to the temple seemed to lead in a different direction and the distances were misleading, and eventually we started down a "trail" [otherwise known as a brick-paved path] such as the one above.

after an hour of wandering around [not entiely unpleasant, because the air was fresh and the trails were nearly empty] we found a temple. I'm not sure if it was the temple we were searching for, but I found a stairway in the hillside that let us climb up to be eye-level with the roof dragons.

worth it.

+ how to get there +

take the wenhu [brown] line on the MRT all the way to the Taipei Zoo station. leave via exit 2 and walk to the large glass building covered in Hello Kitty gondola cartoons. you board the gondola on the 4th floor. use your EasyCard or pay 50NT for a ticket all the way to the top. [tickets for glass bottom gondola costs more.]

the cup of coffee that fueled the writing of this blog post was sponsored by Polly. she drinks her coffee with lots of milk + sugar, and blogs about travel and expat life over at A Girl and her Travels.

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I'm Jamie: coffee addict, author in progress, and American expat living in Taipei, Taiwan. I'm a photography nerd, wine lover, and occasional runner. I spend my free time chasing dragons.

ink + adventure is where I share my journey - you'll find travel photos, expat experiences, and bits about life as a blogger/writer living in Taiwan. read more about me here, or subscribe to the blog below.